Few of the patterns are very interesting in and of themselves. It’s in the composition of patterns that the magic lies.
Nevertheless, it can be interesting to scan the lists of patterns from time to time. Perhaps one will strike you as a perfect puzzle-piece fit to your system. So, here are all of the patterns.
Note that the categories are just a suggestion of what the most obvious first-order category is. Very few patterns are only applicable to one category. Live within biking distance to work and the grocery store is relevant to Transportation, Health, Work, Food, Leisure, and Craft, for example.
Patterns of Composition
- pareto optimize
- arrange for loose coupling
- stack functions
- create buffers
- design for homeotelicity
- close open loops
- identify and eliminate single points of failure
Strategic Patterns
- a very low cost of living
- reject purity culture
- crowbar
- lifestyle experiment
- have a plan b
- stimulate the informal economy
- cultivate autonomy
- build a life you like (as opposed to a life you’ve been instructed to like)
- increase dissatisfaction
- develop your vision
- improve your plan
- invite, don’t compel
- feed your brain – read books about post-consumerism or alternative lifestyles
- reframe crazy
- do the math
- draw reverse fishbone diagrams
- draw webs of goals
- insource skills
- write a personal manifesto
- pareto reject modernity
- put your own oxygen mask on first
Social patterns
- start a deep response (post-consumer, alternative, etc) book club or mutual support group
- crash with friends
- set up your place so friends can crash with you
- plan picnics and bbqs
Resource Management Patterns
- think about money to forget about money
- do a no buy year
- spend less than 10k a year
- track all expenses
- set a target cost of living
- spend no more than the global equitable burn rate
- have a cash buffer
- maintain a high savings rate
- keep a budget
- don’t keep a budget
- draft a personal investing strategy
- passively invest
- actively invest
- invest in climate change and social justice related companies
- study macroeconomics
- study microeconomics
- study investing
- study ecology
- study permaculture
- become financially independent
- convert financial assets into real assets
- convert financial assets into skill assets
- convert time into skill assets
- convert time into real assets
Transportation Patterns
- don’t own a car
- buy a used car
- work on your car yourself
- learn about cars so mechanics don’t rip you off
- get a bike
- ride your bike to work
- ride your bike to the grocery store
- take public transportation
- buy in bulk and make fewer trips for supplies
- rent a car for bulk supply trips rather than owning a car
Shelter Patterns
- outlaw shelter
- live walking or biking distance to work, grocery store, and social life
- downsize your home
- live with other people
- live in a tiny house
- live in your rig
- convert a bus or trailer
- energy retrofit your home
- cool yourself, not your entire house
- heat yourself, not your entire house
- ventilate yourself, not your entire house
- housesit
- work trade (workaway etc)
- move somewhere less expensive
- become a property manager in exchange for shelter
- adopt a minimalist approach to ownership
- buy clothes from second-hand shops
- build a balcony PV system
- build a bucket AC
Food Patterns
- spend less than $200/mo on food
- organize picnics in the park rather than going out
- maintain a deep pantry
- don’t eat out
- don’t drink alcohol
- brew your own beer
- roast your own coffee
- learn how to tasty meals (tastemaxx cooking)
- learn how to make very quick meals (speedmaxx cooking)
- cook in large batches
- grow a garden
- dumpster dive
- buy in bulk
- eat just enough
- don’t drink the void
Health Patterns
- design mandatory movement into your life
- establish workout dates with friends
- join a gym
- join a group exercise program
- build your own gym
- make your own exercise equipment
Work (the exchange of labor for money) Patterns
- timeblock plan your day
- adopt a GTD system
- do a fixed schedule productivity system
- reject anti-work culture
- reject the protestant work ethic
- work part time
- work remotely
- start a business
- work on something you love
- work on something you think is meaningful
- work on something undemanding
- work seasonally
- save and invest aggressively
- fix up a house and rent or sell it
- build a tinyhouse and rent it out
- build a tinyhouse, live in it, and rent your house
Leisure Patterns
- read good books from the library
- keep a journal
- listen to good music
- make art for its own sake
Craft Patterns
- mend your clothes
- make your clothes